Some fun sessions amid flatness

I’m as big of fan of summer-like weather as the next guy, but I equally distain the summertime swell pattern that we’ve seemed to settle into after an absolutely pumping winter.

The last consistent push lasting around a week in mid-March being such a recent memory makes this new era of flatness all the more difficult to swallow. April showers (and wind) make waves, usually.

That said, the Surf and Adventure crew, my old surf buddy Todd Elder – who I recently reconnected with – and I managed to log a few really fun sessions even though the predominant sea state has been classic Lake Atlantic.

Since that week in mid-march, Virginia Beach has been treated to just two viable swells, each lasting little more than a day at a time. The Outer Banks received its usual shot of better quality surf from both of those outbursts and managed to use its open-ocean exposure to pick up a couple more than didn’t quite make it up this way.

March 21’s evening session blew in a southeast windswell that turned on First Street in the waist-to-chest range that provided some fun waves despite the onshore conditions. Josh joined me for the morning session the following day, and conditions were better with an offshore wind, but the swell dropped a foot or so in size.  It was nice to squeeze in some fun waves, especially with a bleak swell forecast looming.

Then came a layoff that lasted until the following weekend, when another southeast blow produced a long, but soft, waist-high wave. Nothing special, but again, something to hold us over until Tuesday, March 30, which produced the shot of Forrest you see at the top of this blog.

Sick.
 

My friend Rocky, originally set to roll down to the Banks with me on this day, couldn’t make it due to work, so he connected me with Todd, who I came up surfing with through high school. We lost touch as we both pursued our college educations. As I began a career in writing post-school, he worked feverishly to save money to go on months-long surf trips. Smart guy.

It was great to reconnect with Todd, and the bond of surfing assured that we became instant buds. Turns out we are both equally obsessed, which worked out for the next two sessions we would catch.

So Todd and I charged down to Hatteras for the afternoon’s incoming tide. After stumbling around the maxed-out sandbars of northern Hatteras, we decided to surf in town at a spot we thought looked right (we heard later we should have kept heading south towards Avon, but whatever, we had to get wet).

We were rewarded with overhead, barreling peaks that pitched as far out into the pit as they were tall. Completely intense and we were both getting shacked on these gaping rights. Meanwhile in Sandbridge, the boys were scoring head-high nuggets of their own.

Then it went flat again. Virginia Beach is still in the throws of this spell, which looks to end tomorrow with a northeast blow. The Outer Banks broke the cycle for a few of these days, and Todd and I were on it for super-fun, rampy stomach-high walls in Hatteras for April 3’s morning sesh before hitting our favorite high tide spot in town for a fun-but-soft surf.

While I’m sure the OBX sported a rideable wave in some form through the next week, it took six more days for it to really turn on. Josh, my longtime best friend Ronnie and I charged to Frisco as a southwest windswell looked to get groomed by north winds around midday on Friday.

That it did, and some short-period grinders were keeping me and Josh on our toes while Ronnie filmed from the beach. Unfortunately, the zoom on his camera (we were pretty out there) and the steep, bowly, stacked-up surf made logging quality film too difficult. All the evidence needed for the booming barrels of the day can be seen in the clean break of Josh’s board.

That brings us back up to date. Hopefully the next few weeks will be a touch more active, but as you read, even when things get bad, waves still find a way around if you take the time to go get them.

• John Streit.